Originally published on the 12th March 2009 on www.lanthrax.com

EVERSIO Q&A was a series of interviews I used to write for another gaming community, but following declined readership on that particular site, I decided to share my work here. Hope you guys find it interesting.

The original 'mission statement' of this series of interviews which I had started almost a year and a half ago was: "EVERSIOq&a is a series of interviews which aims at exposing the efforts of the Maltese e-athletes who valiantly test their mettle against local and foreign opponents not just for fun, but also to make a name for themselves and their country in the ever growing competitve esport scene."

As I stated, this was meant to be a series, so this article is not the first, and hopefully not the last either. If you're interested in earlier material, I'll link (Editor's note: broken links) my older interviews:

• Interview with ephica.prime 
• Interview with eXosphere!Rico
• Interview with TLR|toxic
• Interview with soulkilla
• Interview with doubtful/knochen (AKA bone)

Some more motivation to write another eSport article from the year and a half old interview series.

I'll be selfish in this interview, and will be taking up two players from my own organisation to the gaming court; about damn time too, as they deserve some exposure considering what they have achieved. (just for the sake of clarification, I am eversio, but I do not play with the CoD4 team, I'm the toilet scrubber)

The two players standing trial are nev and Metju, the two longest standing players in the project EVERSIO Call of Duty 4 squad, and hopefully, they may successfuly share their experiences and thoughts to our beloved readership through medium of this text, so, unless I have all already bored you to death, please stand at attention before the magistrate.

So, could you please introduce yourselves; name, age, occupation, gaming history?

Metju: Matthew Barbara, 19 years of age; occupation: currently wasting my life on gaming; histroy: I was just like every "noob" gamer in CoD2, offending and bullying in public and trying to cheat to boost my skills! I started playing the game 1.5 years after it was released, no wonder why I couldn't make it to top level. When I heard CoD4 was coming out, I  said to myself that it was a new game, every guy would start out as an equal, the more you practise the better you get, and thats what I did, played alot with forgein players (yes, I believe playing with local gamers only won't make you reach any high level) and this is where I got today, with the best team in Malta  which personally I rate as top 20 team in europe (not cb!).

nevi: Neville Zammit, 19, Full time commerce student at the University of Malta. I played Enemy Territory on a local level, then moved off to foreign clans whilst playing for the national ET team for 2/3 years. I moved to cod2 as mYth, followed by MEPA and eXosphere. Later on I co-founded eversio with mikk where I established and lead the cod4 team and initiated the FIFA and FEAR team too

I really played on various gaming or skill levels. ET, my first online gaming experience, took off quickly as i was recruited by top team where i was able to learn from some of the top gamers of the scene at that time.Was really considered as a child and everyone around me was like a mentor or father. The environment was quite friendly and informal, familylike. As we casually moved to cod2 gaming was just fun

From the top left: Matthew "Metju" Barbara, Steven "Gunner" Silvio, Matthew "Matli" Bajada
From the bottom left: Neville "nev" Zammit, Luigi "Killa" Farrugia, Marco "PK" Bugeja
The CoD4 team at GOTLAN 3, Marsaskala, July 2008.

Metju, could you please provide us some details on your CoD4 squad; distinguishing the members and their roles?

Metju: I always wanted my team to contain the best local players, and that is what eversio has in my opinion. When you're playing  on  a realy high level to compete against Europe's best teams, you cannot prefer anyone more than others for personal reasons (friendships that is). Whoever is underperforming has to be replaced by anyone who is better, that is what we do in eversio.

nevi, butting in:
nevi – myself, the flexible fragger, basing my game on aim and aggressive rushing. 
Metju – the ingame leader, tactic caller, war arranger, nade crew, using nades tricks and skill acquired through millions of scrims to outskill his opponent
PK – combination of reflex, aim and battlesense, PK is the main man at close combat, often crucial in some rounds.   
Matli – his years of experience and dedication to the cod series easily qualifies him as the best consistent sniper, having a vital role in the team too.
Cain - .another reflex player relying on his agility to outsmart opponents, valuable addition to the team. 

Metju: About our members and their roles;

Every team needs a really good sniper, especially in certain maps in CoD4, and for that kind of a job we have the most experienced sniper in Malta, which is matli
Myself, nev and cain play really similar to each other; we change our positions depending how our opponets play and on what map we are playing. Last but not least is our SMG'er PK: his 74u skills are high class and these prove vital in leading us to win most of the rounds. I am also the ingame team leader; the guy who calls our strategies, tactics and provide for a dynamic team structure.

nevi, you have quite the gaming history; having played Enemy Territory competitively before having moved on to the Call of Duty series, and hence, you have quite an extensive experience of playing team based games with Maltese and foreign clans of different skill levels. What are the differences from playing in an ordinary clan, to playing in a structured gaming organisation such as project Eversio? (be kind)

nevi: I really played on various gaming or skill levels. Enemy Territory, my first online gaming experience, took off quickly as i was recruited by a decent local team where i was able to learn from some of the best local gamers of the scene at that time. Was really considered as a child and everyone around me was like a mentor or father. The environment was quite friendly and informal, familylike, still had the occasional CB match and the tense Team Malta matches. Easily won my first lan at the end of the ET era.  

As we casually moved to cod2, gaming was just random clan wars in quite a closed local environment. Later beefed up in competitiveness through various clan experiences and foreign pubbing and managed to grab top spots at local lans. COD4 was hardcore all the way. Formed a team in the very first week of its release and never really stopped striving for improvement, through endless deathmatches, tactics, and clan wars. As we won our first couple of local lans things were always getting more serious as we successfully dominated the local scene, we moved to the foreign one which through sheer dedication and a strong will to make a name of ourselves, me, metju, pk, matli, killa and cain achieved being in cod4.invite, reaching top 20 in CB (from almost 5000 clans!), while beating and drawing teams we never dreamt of playing against. It's also cool to be pampered by mikk :P. (taking care of the website, talking to our dear sponsor - Hackers! etc.) At the end, gaming through the various stages was never exclusively for the fun or exclusively for winning cash at lans but for the glory and respect and self achievement through training; but fun and nice prizes are indispensable along the way.

Hopefully without passing on as an arrogant bastard, I should be comfortable in saying that the eversio CoD4 team is the best CoD4 team in Malta, yet you gained that title through achievements. Could you please detail these, and also, what earthly possessions have you gained out of taking CoD4 seriously?

Metju: As a team, we attended five local LANs for CoD4, and won five. We also won an assortment of international one day cups, and placed 2nd at the CB OC Division 1, 3rd League last Winter season. In terms of prizes, we attained the following:

• VunderLAN 3.0: 1500€ worth in hardware
• ClubLAN'08: 800€ cash
• GOTLAN III: 925€ worth in hardware
• Revolution LAN: 1000€ cash
• Exclusive LAN v2: 850€ worth in hardware

nevi: Personal Achievements
-Played in 3 ET nations-cups 
-Formed mYth with etplayers clanmates
-Lans: 1st FEAR @lanfest(eversio)
       1st ET @clublan(eversio)
       2nd COD2 @powerup(exo) 
       3rd COD2 @lanfest(eversio) 
       3rd FIFA @powerup(eversio) 
       4th COD2 @clublan(eversio)
-Co-Founded most successful multigaming organisation
-Gold in 5 summer lans at cod4
-co-Leader team-MT COD4

Rounding off and converting the money I got through the LANs I attended, I think I ended up with a sum of about 500€ which helped when I needed to insure my car :D
Other stuff which I got off gaming are various small discounts at gaming hardware shops, Some hardware such as a headset from my manager, my killer deathadder, graphic cards, t-shirts and a tower case etc.

The CoD4 team after winning ClubLAN 2008, with the Club Gaming team.

Being so good at the game, people could easily categorise you as geeks. Could you prove them wrong? Do you indulge in physical actvities? Do you have a plan for your future?

Metju: Concerning  physical activies, I am always active; at the moment i go to a gym and I give 10/10 to my sexy body ;p BUT I consider myself as a geek gamer; a nolifer and my plan for my future is achieving top 5 in a European lan event, nothing more! However I don't plan  for a life-time of playing competitively, but I'll be in the scene for the next coming 2 years at least.

nevi: Well, honestly all the team whines about my supposedly lack of activity, but you might not know that I have the most gorgeous girlfriend a gamer may have :P (http://www.ugame.net/users/nevi/galleries/viewImage/25041). I have the usual group of friends I see regularly for chilling out, school and partying. I also attend university, recently got my car license and a car too! I plan and hope to graduate in commerce economics or banking or something. So, I pretty much enjoy the outside life as much as the next guy. 

Some particular community's members have been kindly labelling people as CODOPs (Call of Duty Only Players) - and such CODOP people are considered close-minded gamers. Are you CODOPs? Do you play games other than CoD?

Metju: I do play other videogames other than cod4 (Left 4 Dead!), but in my opinion if you have time to play a videogame go for the one you are playing seriously. The more you play, the more you will learn. I do an average of 40 hours per week on cod4 and I still feel I'm missing some important things to know in the game

nevi: Played on a competitive level and at the top of local scene in the following games: Enemy Territory, Call of Duty 2, FEAR Combat, FIFA and Call of Duty 4. I also play random games of Red Alert 3, GRID and since the recent revival of the old ET community, I've been spending some time playing public games with the old crew too. Personally i think the COD series is the best if your looking for competitive challenges, ET is the best regarding fun and pubbing (mind you was competitive as cod series back in its days)  and fifa offers a good quick game between football enthusiasts.

Your ambitions are certainly not restricted to the territorial confines of this island. What have you done in the foreign scene to this date, and what is the perception of the rest of Europe towards you? Please inform our readers on the Nations Cup and Eurocup instances.

Metju: We have done very well against some of the best teams in Europe, and not so well against teams that aren't so top .eu. This game is a bit random and if there's two teams who's skill levels are very different, results could go haywire. Regarding Nations Cup (World Cup equivalent of Online Gaming), I was the team leader, and unfortunately in that period of time, all Melita subscribers could not be fielded due to excessive pings; it's fixed now, but it cost us from passing through the group stage. We did beat Slovakia, though. Eurocup is possibly one of the most prestigous online cups, consisting of the best teams in Europe - from the 800 signups, 20 are directly invited, whilst 8 are given a qualifier. We were donated the possibilty of qualifying, something that no other Maltese team had ever done before, except for toxic with a foreign team. I believe we will make some noise and will qualify and perhaps even go through the group stages.

What are your ambitions for the future, as a team?

Metju: Our thoughts are to finish ranked well in the Eurocup and to represent Malta for the first time in a European LAN, and obviously finish in the top 8 or hopefully better. 

Metju modelling his Hackers Gaming Centre-sponsored gear

So, being quite a distinguished team even in the European scene entails that you have to be quite disciplined to retain your status. How much effort do you input? How many hours per week do you invest in CoD4, and what training methods do you employ?

Metju: Me, PK and cain are the tactical crew; we do nades, smokes, strats and all the stuff that have to do with the team. However to be able to beat the top teams, you need to know the game with your eyes closed. I do around 35-40 hours weekly on cod4, but as a team we play like 3-4hrs daily. Saturday is our night off, but usually we don't take it! Such gamers! 

nevi: First of all i started off COD4 immediately and formed a team to play scrims from the very first week of release. From then on I never really stopped. I think I put an average of 3 hours per day for a whole year probably. Currently daily routine stops at about 8/9PM and cod4 takes over for the following 3/4 hours where I pracc with my team. A healthy gaming style would be regular aim training and warmup involving deathmatching and a constant practice with a stable lineup.

Thanks a lot for your precious time boys, good luck in your short and longterm endeavours! Any final words/shoutouts?

Metju: Really nothing to say, just to those that want to improve their game: play and get better results as a team; download the demos of top players and do similar tactics. Get in a TDM public server, not SD, to improve your aim and play foreign wars. Playing just local wars will make your skills local level ;)

nevi: Strive to be the best, dont let any potential go wasted. If you feel like your at the top of your game, step up your gaming and indulge in the foreign scene where there will be always something to learn. Following foreign top clans actions is important too.

Shoutouts to my ET mentors: sentix, twanny, sha, viking. Kri, my longest serving member. pejT and bayatu for being great standins. Hackers for his amazing support and our new co-manager Mewt. Metju and mikk who made the eversio story possible and my professional teammates PK, Matli and cain, who together form a formidable team!